{"id":2207829,"url":"https://alion.io/job/astron-bell-burnell-postdoctoral-fellowship","title":"Bell Burnell Postdoctoral Fellowship","company":{"id":1881217,"name":"ASTRON","domain":"astron.nl","url":"https://alion.io/company/astron-nl","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Recruitee","truth_index":null},"role":"Science & Research","role_family":"Science & Research","seniority":null,"employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Dwingeloo, Netherlands"],"countries":["NL"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":3630,"max":5758,"currency":"EUR","period":"month","gross":null,"usd_annual":77604},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-31T06:51:18Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-08-31","last_verified_at":"2026-10-31T19:45:38Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":61,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":61},"description":"ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, is proud to invite applicants to apply for the Bell Burnell Postdoctoral Fellowship. The fellowship is named in honour, and with support of, Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell - the discoverer of pulsars, pioneer in the field of radio astronomy, and champion of equitable representation, acknowledgement and achievement in astronomy.\nBell Burnell Fellows represent and reflect all of ASTRON’s foundational values as it continues its 77 year leadership in radio astronomy discovery and innovation. The fellowship provides an outstanding opportunity for a scientist to pursue innovative research and development in an institute that spans the entire spectrum of radio astronomy expertise - from development, to operation, to science frontiers. The Fellow will have access to radio technologies, facilities, and expertise in the preeminent radio observatories of the present and future.\nThe ideal Bell Burnell Fellow is diverse, creative, and trail-blazing. ASTRON is invested in ensuring the fellowship accelerates the careers of the next generation of leading scientists. They will bring creative thinking to our technical, operational, and scientific challenges. We expect Bell Burnell fellows to push science discovery space and contribute to an institute that is committed to being socially-connected, inclusive, and sustainable in science and technology.\nThe Bell Burnell Postdoctoral Fellowship is designed to help scientists build upon emerging strong careers as independent researchers. A Bell Burnell Fellow will be expected to undertake independent research that makes use of, and contributes to, the observational strengths and capabilities of ASTRON. Within this context, the fellowship is open for any type of science, whether it be technical, instrumental, Galactic, extra-galactic or any other direction. We also explicitly welcome applicants from non-traditional astronomy tracks. ASTRON has experience fostering the best researchers in radio astronomy via their direct exposure to the commissioning and operation of radio instruments. As such, preference will be given to candidates that emphasise the ability to combine their science interests with the development, commissioning or operation of ASTRON’s radio instruments.\nASTRON directly operates LOFAR, the WSRT, and is part of the European VLBI Network (EVN). ASTRON is a founding member of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Observatory, and will be fundamental to the SKA’s commissioning and operation in the coming years. The advertised position is for 3 years duration. There is currently one position available this hiring round.\nRequirements\nEssential criteria for the job include:\nA doctorate in astronomy, physics, or related discipline to radio astronomy (e.g. electrical engineering)\n\nDemonstrated research experience and expertise in radio astronomy\n\nA record of science innovation and creativity, plus a proven ability and willingness to incorporate novel ideas and approaches into scientific investigations and associated telescopes\n\nDemonstrated ability to initiate and lead a project using, or related to, radio telescopes, instrumentation, and/or software\n\nThe ability to work effectively as part of a multi-disciplinary, regionally dispersed team, across science, operations, and/or engineering\n\nDemonstrated contribution to the work environment and culture of their previous affiliations (e.g. service on colloquia organisations, equity, diversity, and inclusion committees etc)\n\nFluent in the verbal and written communication of English\n\nYour duties as a Bell Burnell Fellow will include:\nCarrying out innovative and self-directed research with use-cases for any of ASTRON’s key facilities, including WSRT, LOFAR, EVN, SKA and its pathfinders;\n\nTaking on project collaboration with ASTRON staff, assisting in the commissioning, preparation, and operation of ASTRON and/or SKA facilities;\n\nWriting scientific papers for publication and presenting results at major national and international conferences;\n\nFostering a healthy work environment at ASTRON.\n\nWhile early-career researchers (less than ~6 years post-PhD award) are specifically encouraged to apply, we will consider all candidates regardless of academic age. We will account for career breaks in our evaluation of candidates, including parental leave and care duties. Applicants are encouraged to list such breaks in their CV.\nWe offer:\nA full-time 38 hours per week temporary appointment in the service of the Netherlands Foundation of Scientific Research Institutes (NWO-I) for the duration of 2 years, extended to 3 years in case of good performance and sufficient funding.\n\nA gross monthly salary, on a full-time basis, in the range of € 4.552,- to € 5.758,- depending on relevant experience\n\nA holiday allowance of 8% and a year-end bonus of 8.33% of the gross annual salary\n\nA strong pension scheme (ABP)\n\n42 vacation days per year on a full-time 40 hour work week basis\n\nA pleasant and stimulating work environment\n\nComputer resources (new laptop, access to communal ASTRON cluster)\n\nAmple support for conference travel (attending at least one intercontinental and two European conferences annually is supported) and work visits\n\nFlexible conditions of employment, tailored to your personal situation (including part time work)\n\nGenerous relocation expenses\n\nThe terms of employment are in accordance with the Netherlands Collective Labour Agreement for Research Institutes (CAO).\nThe organization:\nAt ASTRON, we offer an environment where you work alongside experts from various fields and where we have a culture of mutual support. This makes the inspirational environment at ASTRON the biggest playground to innovate where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive and grow.\nWhat makes ASTRON unique? We constantly push the boundaries of what is technologically possible to make discoveries in radio astronomy happen. Everyone at ASTRON is constantly working at the forefront of innovation. And the innovations derived from our work benefit society as a whole.\nWe are committed to decreasing our organisational footprint, we explore circular and green computing solutions in partnership with others. Furthermore, we are dedicated to increasing staff diversity and creating a safe and inclusive workplace. We are especially interested in applications from women and other traditionally under-represented groups.\nThe ASTRON premises are situated in a fantastic area in the middle of a beautiful National Park. We are surrounded by stunning scenery that provides an opportunity to see hares and grazing deer around the building during a lunch walk.\nInformation:\nMore information about ASTRON can be found on our websites http://www.astron.nl/ and http://www.werkenbijastron.nl/. For more information on the content of this vacancy, please contact dr. J. R. Callingham (e-mail: ) or Alma Kerkhof, HRM Advisor, e-mail: .\nApplication requirements and process:\nPlease apply for this job before November 6, 2026 (closing at 11:59 CET that date). The position will remain open until filled with a satisfactory candidate.\nApplications must include a single PDF file containing:\n(i) a two-page cover letter addressing the essential criteria and expectations for meeting the listed duties of the job (as listed in this ad);\n(ii) a research statement that outlines the applicant’s research background (half-page) and the research they plan to undertake at ASTRON (not exceeding three pages in total, excluding references), and;\n(iii) a recent CV that includes a list of publications. Applicants are requested to highlight two key papers that they judge as their most important contributions to the literature, and should justify their choice (with a limit of half a page for such information).\nNote that reference letters are not required at the time of submission. Reference letters will only be requested from short-listed candidates.\nWe expect to conduct online interviews for long-listed candidates approximately in early December 2026. We will then conduct in-person interviews for short-listed candidates approximately in late January 2027, with offers to be made soon after that.","description_format":"text","description_chars":8216,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"phd","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[{"language":"English","level":"Upper-Intermediate (B2)","optional":false}]},"benefits":["Equity","Parental leave"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":true,"industries":["Graphic Design"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-10T00:27:49Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":13,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.455,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":60,"expected_fill_days":24,"reasons":["conf:2","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-31T05:58:55Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":77604,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/astron-bell-burnell-postdoctoral-fellowship","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/astron-bell-burnell-postdoctoral-fellowship.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-31T21:26:31Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":33559,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-01T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":1881217},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=1881217"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fastron-bell-burnell-postdoctoral-fellowship"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fastron-bell-burnell-postdoctoral-fellowship"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fastron-bell-burnell-postdoctoral-fellowship"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/astron-bell-burnell-postdoctoral-fellowship\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fastron-bell-burnell-postdoctoral-fellowship"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":2207829}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"astron.nl","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":2207829},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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